Baby Sleeping Tips

Baby sleeping tips are giving the parents ideas that work to help babies fall asleep better. For many first-time mothers, you will never expect that getting a baby to sleep can sometimes bother you, especially you are sleep-deprived. For experienced mothers, I am pretty sure that you have ways to help your little one fall asleep better. Babies need to be taught to sleep on their own. They do not know how to fall asleep, we as parents, need to help them learn the skill.

10 baby sleeping tips for the mothers, I am sharing with you more ideas to make our baby’s bedtime easier for both of you. The last tip works wonders for me. Let check them out one by one.

10 Baby sleeping tips

Routine

The key here is consistency. Habits are formed through routines and baby loves routines and I found that they can easily adapt to the routine task. Consistent nighttime routines can signal your baby to learn that it’s time to sleep.

For example, you choose a soothing lullaby before bedtime, repeat it whenever you put him in his crib. Your little one will pick up the signal through repetition.

Your loving touch

One way to soothe your little one to sleep is to pat gently on the baby’s bottom. Sometimes, a little touch on his head, stomach, or hand can do the tricks too. Let him feel secure by touching him until the little one goes back to sleep.

Light out!

To help your baby understand about bedtime, keep his room suitably dark before sending him to bed. During the day, you can use the curtain to simulate nighttime. When it’s time to wake up, you can open the curtain and let your baby understand the difference. Soon, your little one will be able to fall asleep in any dark room.

White noise

Some babies sleep easier with some white noise. If you put him in a totally quiet room, it may not be a good idea. Be reminded that babies are used to constant sounds when they are in their mother’s womb, heart beating, or gurgling stomach. Therefore, a little noise will help to soothe him better.

A white noise machine can be a good product to help comfort newborns. White noise can block out household noises such as older siblings, helping the baby falls asleep better. According to a study about “White noise and sleep induction“, white noise help mothers settle difficult babies and 80% of the babies will fall asleep within 5 minutes to white noise.

However, everything has the flip side. Some babies will become more reliant on white noise to fall asleep. Therefore, try to place the white noise machine a bit far and lower the volume and stop it when you think it’s the right time. Too reliant on something may not be a good thing in the long run.

Make him comfortable

What about a warm bath before sending him to bed? After a warm bath, put on his nice sleeping bag or a swaddle blanket, let him feel nice and warm. Sometimes, singing or humming a song will also help to make him fall asleep easier.

Avoid eye contact

Nobody can resist gazing into a baby’s eyes but in fact, eye contact is the most stimulating thing for a baby. If it is time for bed, he needs to shut his eyes. So avoid any eye contact especially when you prep him for bed.

Put him to bed before he gets overtired

Look for cues that he is ready for a nap. Rubbing eyes and yawning are the first two cues. Baby is yet to learn about self-soothing to sleep, therefore, we need to help him fall asleep. An overtired baby will lead to crankiness and fussiness.

When it is time for his nap or bedtime, prepare him to bed slightly earlier, put him on his crib or bed before he gets too tired.

Don’t skip nap time

Babies need to have nap time. Naps are important to the baby’s mental and physical growth. If you think by omitting the nap time will result in a long night’s sleep, then you are wrong!

Newborns usually need 3-5 naps a day, babies who are about 4-6 months old need 2 -3 naps a day, and babies who are 6-12 months old need 2 naps a day. Skipping the nap time, will not prolong the baby’s night’s sleep time. According to a sleep training consultant, a baby who naps well during the day will sleep well during the night! A baby who is having enough sleep is well-rested. A well-rested baby is one of the important factors in sleeping through the night.

Night time diapering

Babies tend to wake up when their diapers are soiled and some parents find it difficult to soothe them back to sleep again. So what should you do? You need to change the dirty diaper right?

Here is the trick, if you want your baby to sleep through without waking him up when changing his dirty nappy, look for a high absorbent diaper that can hold up his pees without causing him skin rash problems. To ensure his bottom is protected, applying a good barrier cream during his last diaper change will also help.

Breastfeed to sleep

Most breastfeeding babies will fall asleep easily while nursing. It is also one of the ways to soothe a baby to sleep. It is bad? Not at all, it is a normal and healthy thing to do. If you worry breastfeeding to sleep will delay the child from learning self-soothing. Well, babies can be trained later or they will learn the self-soothing skill naturally, just a matter of time.

If you and your family find breastfeeding is the best to soothe your baby to fall asleep better, why not? Breastfeeding is powerful and it really works to soothe and calm a crying baby. Learn more about the benefits of breastfeeding to mother and baby.

Read more” What’s swaddling?”, ” When do babies start sleeping through the night“